Test driver De Villota loses right eye after crash

By GERALD IMRAY -
Associated Press -
Wednesday, July 4, 2012

LONDON (AP) - Formula One test driver Maria de Villota lost her right eye in a crash during a testing session and remains hospitalized in Britain, with teammates describing her condition as critical but stable.

The 32-year-old Spaniard sustained serious injuries to her head and face after colliding with a team vehicle at the end of one of her straight-line test runs at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire, north of London. She underwent a lengthy procedure by neurological and plastic surgery teams, her team said, adding that de Villota was in the operating theater from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday morning.

“We are grateful for the medical attention that Maria has been receiving,” John Booth, Marussia team principal. “However, it is with great sadness that I must report that, due to the injuries she sustained, Maria has lost her right eye.”

De Villota was testing the team’s racing car for the first time Tuesday after joining Marussia in March. She is the sport’s first full-time female driver since Italy’s Giovanna Amati raced with the Brabham team in 1992.

She was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital after the accident with what an emergency team’s spokesman described as life-threatening injuries.

Her head apparently took much of the impact from the collision with the Marussia team truck, which was used to transport the racing car to the airfield for a week of testing ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Sunday.

It was still unclear why the car suddenly accelerated, and hit the truck as De Villota slowed down at the end of the run.